The "Straight" Truth About Training

For Runners, Bikers, Swimmers and the Triathletes who do it all!

By, Phil Denema, DPT and Triathlete at Moore

 

Are you a triathlete, swimmer, biker or runner?  If so you have probably started your off season training, or are thinking about where to start and what to include. 

What will your training consist of?  Will it be more of what you did all season long? Swimming, biking and running?   Yes you need to perform these tasks to keep your base fitness and even build upon it during the off-season, but the off-season is a great time to add variety to your training and gain speed and power through something other than swimming, biking or running. 

The off season is a great time to address any of the injuries, or imbalances that you dealt with throughout the season. An imbalance can be something as minor as one shoulder, side of your back, hip, or foot and ankle having more or less range of motion or flexibility, or strength than the other side.  If you have an imbalance or restriction it may have resulted in pain that limited your performance.  Even if you do not experience pain, imbalances and restrictions negatively affect your form and efficiency and thus your speed and time.  If you continue to train without addressing imbalances throughout your body they will eventually catch up with you and lead to breakdown, irritation and pain.  The best way to avoid the pain is to incorporate strength training and flexibility work to improve your performance and decrease risk of injury.  

Yes there are a lot of different ways to strengthen, and I know there are only so many hours in a day to fit in your swim, bike or run training and fit in more training on top of it.  So where do you start?  What is the one thing that all 3 sports have in common?  That’s right, we always go straight. 

The best way to go straight forward is to not waste any energy or motion moving in other directions.  In order to do this, it is crucial to work the muscles of your shoulders, core, hips and knees that control lateral and rotational motions.  If you want to go forward as fast as possible, you do not want to be wasting motion moving side to side or rotating instead of going forward.  This happens if you are weak or tight in any of the above areas.  If you look at the pictures below you can get a quick idea of some of the muscle systems that are active during running and if not working properly can result in poor or excessive motion. 

                         

The next area that needs to be discussed is the benefit of strength training on performance.  By increasing the strength of your legs you will be able to push a bigger gear on the bike at the same energy expenditure, increase your stride length when running, and if you increase your shoulder and arm strength you will increase your distance covered per swimming stroke.  Now the million dollar question, “What exercise do I do to work these muscles properly?” Although each athlete is different, a couple good starting points for basic strengthening involve the muscles of the hips, core and upper back. 

If you have read any literature out there, you have heard about the importance of the core, and I cannot over stress this for triathletes.  Having a stable midsection and pelvis will allow you to transfer your energy efficiently into going forward. 

One core strengthening exercise I like for triathletes is the plank.  This is because it will work your abdominals as well as your shoulder stabilizers and upper back, which will benefit you in all three aspects of the sport.  It will help your body position in the water, your comfort in the aero position on the bike, and keep your core a stable base while running.  Start out on your stomach, go up on your toes, tighten your abbs by pulling your belly button toward your spine, from there go up onto both elbows, keep your back flat and abbs tight, pull your shoulder blades down and back and keep your head in line with your body. 

              

The next exercise will address lateral hip strength and stability.  Lateral hip strength is most important during running to prevent your pelvis from dropping on one side as your contact and transition through push off.  There are a couple ways to perform this exercise depending on what equipment you have available to you.  If you have a resistance band: stand sideways to the band with it around your ankle, stay up tall and keep the abbs tight, slowly bring the leg with the band out to your side and then return to the start, try not to place it back down so you work on your balance.  If you do not have a band, an ankle weight will also work.  

                 

               

 

To strengthen the muscles of the upper back and posterior shoulder give T’s a try.  These can be performed over an exercise ball or off the edge of a bench or table.  Start by setting your shoulder blades down and back, head and neck in line with your body.  Raise your arms toward the ceiling and pinch the shoulder blades together at the top of the motion.  Slowly return to starting position. 

Rotational core strength to keep the hips and shoulders moving in sync during the swim stroke and maintaining body position in the water is critical to optimizing efficiency.  A beginning exercise is the torso roll.  Start out on your back, abbs tight, hips bent to 90* and knees bent to 90*, with knees and feet together.  Place your arms out to your side in line with your shoulders.  Slowly rotate your hips and knees to one side, pause prior to hitting the floor and reverse all the way to the other side, stopping prior to hitting the floor again, and repeat10 times. 

 

To increase your glutes, hamstring and low back strength perform bridging.  These muscles are critical for running hills and the pulling motion of the peddle stroke when on the bike.   To perform: start on your back, knees bent to 90*, feet on the table, toes toward the ceiling.  Tighten your abbs, pulling the belly button toward the spine. Drive your hips up toward the ceiling and pause.  Slowly lower back down to starting position. 

 

 

To begin your strengthen phase you will want to perform 3 sets of 10 with a weight or resistance that makes it challenging to finish the last couple reps.  This will result in gains in muscle size and strength. 

These are just a couple of strengthening exercises that will improve your efficiency and decrease your risk of injury.  Give them a try and you will enjoy the variety in your training and notice improvements in the way you feel and your performance!  Please listen to your body.  If you feel any pain during your training, please stop and call one of our therapists.  Don't set yourself back by ignoring pain.

Next up, stretching!  Watch for Phil's follow-up article.

 

For questions please call 203-656-2229 in Darien, 203-975-1545 in Stamford or 203-762-2900 in Wilton.  If you need help getting started, call our Fitness Division for options: 203.762.2903 or email Keith at kvinci@moorept.com.

                   

 

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